The Gift of a God
by Xzeihoranth
Summary: Mr DeWitt receives help from an unlikely quarter.
1. Chapter 1

Booker DeWitt ran at full tilt towards the door. His only thoughts were of saving Elizabeth from the horrible fate the other Elizabeth had befallen. He was so focused on this goal that he nearly ran headlong into the two people that had suddenly appeared in front of him. "You look as though you could use some help." a voice said.

Booker had seen some strange things in this blasted city. Machines that walked and shot like men, holes appearing in thin air... Hell, he could shoot bolts of electricity from his hands now and fly across whole rooms in less than a second if he had someone in his sights. But these two damn near took the cake.

One was shorter than the other, with a perpetual scowl upon his face. He had strange markings all over his exposed torso and wore what looked like gauntlets made of solid gold. The other was taller and had longer brown hair instead of his companion's shock of white. He was dressed in what Booker could only call 'Oriental' attire (although he was sure Elizabeth would reprimand him and be able to name the culture it came from to boot), with two white scarves trailing behind him.

"Outta the way, pal; I don't have time for this." Booker snarled as he attempted to push his way past them.

"Time? Have you not heard?" the shorter one replied.

"Heard what? Screaming? Cause I've heard a lot of that, and all from one person. The way I see it, you're trying to stop me from getting to her, and that's not a good idea." DeWitt raised his hand and formed a fist-sized ball of fire out of nothing. "Last chance: get out of my way, and maybe I won't roast you alive."

"The music has stopped," the tall one said. "For all intents and purposes, time itself is standing still, to allow us to speak." Booker stopped and listened. The man wasn't lying; the radio on the desk behind him had stopped midnote.

"If you're right..." he mused. "Then maybe I can get in there and stop those doctors before they've even gotten started."

The shorter one grunted in annoyance. "There are rules to these things, DeWitt."

"Rules? How can there be rules? And how the hell do you know who I am?"

"We have been observing you for some time." the tall one said. "Asura the Protector thinks he sees a kindred spirit in you."

"Last I looked, they called me the Destroyer."

"You destroyed the gods to protect the ones you cared about."

"'The Protector' is completely beside the point...!"

"HEY!" Booker shouted, and the two men glared at him. "WHY are you here?"

The short one, who his companion called Asura, grimaced even more. "We've come to offer you strength."

The tall one nodded. "You have fought well thus far, but you could be so much more."

"I know the rage that resides in your heart. I saw what you saw in that accursed place." Asura growled. "If you allow it, I will grant you my power."

"Your human body could not normally contain Asura's essence, but the...Vigors you've picked up have changed you. They will let you channel the might of the God of Wrath for a short while." the tall one added.

Booker snorted in disbelief. "I don't know what you guys think you are, but I've seen things up here that make it pretty damn clear there's no such thing as gods."

Asura laughed. "**That** is what I fought for. The right of men to choose their own fate! To believe what they will! No God of Mantra in his golden palace ruling over them!"

"Instead they've chosen to let other men rule them and their fates." the tall one murmured. "But that is irrelevant. Booker DeWitt, do you accept the gift that we offer?"

DeWitt scratched his head thoughtfully. "I've always been a bit wary of folk offering me power without saying what they want out of the deal. But you're no Luteces, so you're all right in my book. What the hell, I'm in."

Asura flexed his arms dramatically. "You have chosen wisely. Now..." Suddenly, he lunged forward and clamped his metal-clad hands around Booker's head. His eyes glowed white, then every fiber of Booker DeWitt's being screamed in agony, just as he himself did.

In the distance, he dimly heard the other man's voice. "Be still. It will be over soon." And he was right. As quickly as it had begun, the pain vanished, leaving Booker crumpled on the floor, his eyes staring blankly ahead. "He took it better than I would have accepted." the other man said. A grunt of assent from Asura. "On your feet DeWitt. She is waiting for you." A chime sounded from far away, and a breeze rippled past him.

_"Come on, you bastard. Up you go."_ he thought hazily to himself. With a groan, he hauled himself upright. _"Radio's on again. Gotta get in there..."_


	2. Chapter 2

It was just like being back in the other world; only somehow worse. Booker could not only hear Elizabeth screaming, but he could SEE her on the other side of the glass, with those damn doctors hovering over her like vultures. The glass was too thick to shoot through, and he didn't have any heavy ordnance to blow it open. Even if he did, he didn't want to hurt her...hurt her like they were already doing...

The blood boiled beneath his skin. His veins stood on end, and a noise unlike anything anyone alive had ever heard was building in his throat. _"Yes, that's the way. Use your anger to draw forth his power!"_ the tall man's voice murmured in his ear.

"_DeWitt! Let it all go!"_

"_There is no holding back now!"_

"_Release your rage!"_

"_**I...can...feel it..."**_ And with a roar, Booker fell.

The sound shattered the glass of the booths on either side of the operating chamber. Dr Powell shouted for the guards as the ripples of energy in the center of the room subsided. Booker was visible only for a moment, with the shadow of a beastlike figure possessing four massive arms attached to its back looming behind him, before he lunged at the leftmost terminal.

He spared not a glance for the scientist trembling in fear, but pulled the lever down so hard that he forced it out of the slot and sent it skidding away.

At the sound of another scream from Elizabeth, Booker's new shadow let out another bellow and hurled itself and its host to the other machine. The scientist there attempted to stop DeWitt from interfering, but he brushed him aside furiously, forcing him into the wall and unconsciousness. Again Booker yanked at the lever, and again he ripped it from its socket. He tossed it to the floor as the screaming subsided.

Powell shouted for him to turn it back on, but his yells turned into panicked screams as the wall behind him was torn away to reveal a tornado in the distance and closing in rapidly. Booker attempted to brace himself by grabbing onto the remains of the machine with all six of his arms. The beast inside and behind him roared again in defiance, but despite their best efforts, the suction was overwhelming. The scientists were gone now, spiralling helplessly into the updraft. DeWitt's grasp weakened and then failed entirely. "ELIZABETH!" he yelled in panic as he was pulled away towards the howling tornado.

Just as he was inches away from being lost entirely, she managed to pull the tear closed. Booker slammed heavily into a wall and the power dissipated. They sat still, mere feet from each other, equally winded. Elizabeth was the first to speak, with a hoarse "Booker..."

"Hey, take it easy." he groaned, clambering to his feet and limping towards the operating chamber. He edged his way past the broken glass and was soon beside her. "I'm gonna get you up, all right? Nice and slow..." Putting a hand on her bare shoulder, he eased her upright.

"What was...what did you DO?" Elizabeth whispered.

"We can save that for later. I'm gonna get this thing out of you first; you ready?"


	3. Chapter 3

Booker had succeeded in removing the needle from Elizabeth's spine, given her the message the older version of her had given him, and _possibly_ managed to convince her that he would be the one to take Comstock's life. Now, they were both catching their breath, gazing wearily at each other.

"What WAS that thing?" she asked finally. He ran her through what happened in the room just outside, leaving her just as confused as he felt.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to take gifts from strangers?" Elizabeth asked with a small smile.

"What can I say, I liked the cut of their gib." he muttered dryly.

"Do you really think they were gods?"

"They were true to their word about the rest of it, so...I don't know."

"Maybe they were restless spirits, like the Luteces."

Booker frowned. "Makes my brain hurt almost as much as my back does to think about all this."

"I don't think I can carry you to the airship, Booker. But there's bound to be something around here we can use to help ease the pain."

"I just need to walk it off. Save whatever you can find for yourself; you look like you need it."

"I...all right."

They made their way in silence out of the operating room and up the stairs. "I wonder what happened to all the guards Comstock had waiting for you." Elizabeth said as they rounded the corner.

"If they had any sense in 'em, they'd have started running when _I_ started screaming." Booker replied. "I've never felt anything like that, even with all those Vigors I've got in me. Must be what you feel like every time you open a Tear."

"Not exactly. I just feel this _rush_, almost like when I got on the skylines for the first time. But with you...it sounded like you were barely in control, like...you were an animal or something."

"Maybe I was. I can barely remember at all now; it's just gone dark. Hey, think you can take care of this lock? I think I saw something on the desk in here when I was walking into the room down below."

"No need. You could just jump across from one of the monitoring stations."

"Hnnh. Good point. You want to wait here? There's a bench over there with your name on it."

"I'd rather come with you; I kind of missed you."

"And back in Finkton, you could barely stand the sight of me. Okay, I'll take you up to the booth, and you can wait there. I'd rather you didn't do any jumping or anything for a good long while."

"I can live with that. Lead the way."

Booker was right. There had been something on the desk; two things in fact. An Infusion, which after some deliberation he chose to apply to his endurance, and a voxaphone which he played right there. When he came back across to Elizabeth, however, he was shaking from head to toe. "Booker, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"You don't want to know. Come on, let's take that elevator and get the hell out of this place." With that, he stormed down the two sets of stairs and towards the lift. She hurried after him. "Whatever it was, it can't be any worse than what happened here. What was on that voxaphone?"

Booker couldn't even look at her as they waited for the elevator to descend. "It was Powell. That creep who 'took care' of you while you were here. He said they were going to..."  
"I KNOW what they were going to do to me Booker. They didn't even try to keep it a secret." He said nothing, but pulled the voxaphone from his pack and scrolled through it until he got to the very end.

"**Pavlov made a dog salivate. We'll make this one weep."**


End file.
